Yep - I just did it yesterday with the help of my 8 year old assistant. Took us about 3 hours, including cleaning the intake. Here's the before:
And an after:
I worked off of two or three different write-ups from tdiclub, vortex, newbeetle, etc.
I had the hardest time removing the four 6mm bolts for the intake and output for the egr cooler. Two were rusted shut and had to be pb blasted and hammered (lightly ), but they finally came out.
We took it for a short test drive - I can't say I feel a performance increase, but it feels good to have done it. Spending my afternoon with one of my sons is nice too...
Thanks to the community again for a new New Beetle owner to tackle this project!
Now - onto my next two projects - diesel purge, and evry mod!
- Adam

The hardest part after you clean the manifold is getting your hands clean again... that egr stuff stains like crazy. You can usualy tell when i've done one within the last week because thats how long your hands stay black.

I'm currently repacing the turbo on an 03 Beetle ALH engine. The anti shutter valve picture above is a good way to keep tabs on the turbo's health. The carbon build up pictured above is DRY. When the turbo SEAL starts to go bad this DRY carbon build will be WET from oil leaking past the turbo seal. At that point its best to check the intercooler for oil.Pull off the intercooler hose. You may find a good bit of oil. A lot of oil may not be an indicator of a bad turbo seal as this oil tends to build up over time. You'll need to clean/drain any oil from the intercooler and then recheck it again after running the car for a couple hundred miles. I decided to change out my turbo because mine was leaking approx.1 to 1-1/2 ounce in about 140 mile round trip to work and back.If left unchecked oil build up can cause an engine run away from oil injestion.
Hope that helps.

I'm currently repacing the turbo on an 03 Beetle ALH engine. The anti shutter valve picture above is a good way to keep tabs on the turbo's health. The carbon build up pictured above is DRY. When the turbo SEAL starts to go bad this DRY carbon build will be WET from oil leaking past the turbo seal. At that point its best to check the intercooler for oil.Pull off the intercooler hose. You may find a good bit of oil. A lot of oil may not be an indicator of a bad turbo seal as this oil tends to build up over time. You'll need to clean/drain any oil from the intercooler and then recheck it again after running the car for a couple hundred miles. I decided to change out my turbo because mine was leaking approx.1 to 1-1/2 ounce in about 140 mile round trip to work and back.If left unchecked oil build up can cause an engine run away from oil injestion.
Hope that helps.

Thanks for your insight - I'll have to find out where the intercooler hose is and check it out!

Thanks for your insight - I'll have to find out where the intercooler hose is and check it out!

Look down at the forward edge of the passenger fender and you'll see the intercooler. There is a short piece of rubber hose with hose clamp on each end.This hose is approx.2 inches in dia.and 3 inches long. It connects the intercooler to the hard plastic line. Remove both hose clamps.You may not be able to get the hose off yet. Follow the hard line up and you will see where it has a 10mm mounting stud.(Sorta slightly hidden) remove the nut on the stud.Now pull down on the pipe to give you some wiggle room. Once the pipe is off the stud you can remove the 2 inch hose. Have a drain pan ready to catch any oil.

Fuel Economy: Used to get 45, but big wheels, big brakes and a roof rack, 36mpg now

So to clean the intakemanifold itself, what method do you guys use?

I have heard of:

Burning the stuff out (could overhead and warp it I would assume)
Media blasting it (bad if you get sand left in there)
Soaking (in what and what do you do after you soak)
Pressure washing (does that work?)